Tel Aviv wants to host 2012 Olympics

Tel Aviv wants to host 2012 Olympics

TEL AVIV (AFP): Israel's biggest city of Tel Aviv set the ball
rolling on Monday on plans for an unprecedented bid to host the
summer Olympic Games in 2012.

"We started working toward the possibility of hosting the
games here," Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Huldai said while standing in
front of a scale model of a planned Olympic park.

"It is a major opportunity to develop the city. It is like a
dream and it will send a message of peace to the world and
improve the image of Israel that it is not a nation at war, but
one at peace," Huldai added.

He said US$30 million was put aside to complete a feasibility
study over the next two years and to prepare a possible bid to be
presented to the International Olympic Committee by the Israeli
government in 2004.

The current plan requires a $10 billion investment to convert
an industrial area along the polluted Yarkon river that runs
through Tel Aviv into a sparkling Olympic city complete with
state-of-the art sporting facilities and an underground
transportation system.